Abstract
Performance evaluation of a rainfall simulator installed in the laboratory of the Department of Water Resources Development and Management, IIT Roorkee, India was carried to characterize the simulated rainfall. About 360 simulations were made using six different header heights (2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5 m) and ten different pressure heads (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0 kg/cm2) on six different sets (1/8G-SS4.3 W, 1/4G-SS10W, 4G-SS14W, 3/8G-SS17W, 1/2G-SS30W, and 1/2GG-SS40W) of hydraulic nozzles having different orifice diameters and three sets of nozzles. The intensity and uniformity coefficients of the rainfall were assessed for all the nozzles at different header heights and operating pressures ranges. Results obtained from the simulations revealed that the measured rainfall intensities ranged from 17.38 to 231.58 mm/hr for operating pressure heads of 0.2 to 2.0 kg/cm2. Post-hoc comparisons were made by one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey –Kramer HSD test to determine if significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences existed between nozzle intensities at different heights and pressures within groups. The uniformity coefficients (Cu) of nozzles with orifice diameter of 2.0, 2.80, 3.60, 4.0, 5.60, and 6.40 mm were 92.20, 91.24, 97.25, 92.91, 91.38, and 94.52%, respectively. The optimum values of Cu were found at header heights between 3.5 to 4.5 m and in the operating pressure heads of 0.6 to 1.0 kg/cm2. The rainfall simulator experiment suggested optimal values of pressure and header heights for further analysis of runoff and sediment yield.
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Jadhao, V.G., Bhattarai, R., Pandey, A., Mishra, S.K. (2021). Performance Evaluation of a Rainfall Simulator in Laboratory. In: Pandey, A., Mishra, S., Kansal, M., Singh, R., Singh, V. (eds) Water Management and Water Governance. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 96. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58051-3_25
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